


Black Diamonds

by Mykea



Series: Poke-Crossed Lovers [15]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Dysphoria, Fluff, Gender Issues, M/M, Pokemon - Freeform, References to Depression, Sexuality Crisis, Trans Character, Transgender Giovanni, binders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 00:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7955548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mykea/pseuds/Mykea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giovanni and Lance's first meeting, before the formation of Team Rocket and right when Lance becomes an iconic member of the Elite Four. Giovanni just doesn't understand Lance at all; how can someone so pure and kindhearted be interested in a criminal and a loser like him? Transgender Giovanni, Dysphoria, Boy/Boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black Diamonds

Giovanni Rocketto was like a perfectly cut diamond.

He was refined, fashionable, he had exquisite taste and was adored by many women. He liked fancy, shiny things the best. He craved power, but was an intelligent being who analyzed things in a sophisticated manner and knew not to divulge into too much at once. Giovanni was truly a rarity. Something that you can’t find in a million years.

And that’s why most of the grunts at Team Rocket wondered why he was single, by now he should’ve chosen a girlfriend of some sort or settled down secretively… There was always some sort of gossip going on with the younger members of Team Rocket. But, as for the higher executives, the much more trustworthy members, they were the ones who really knew of his relationships.

Though his real, first love no one knew about.

When Giovanni was sixteen, he had decided that it was time to make a decision about the empire his mother had wished he was to take over one day. Which, of course he didn’t want to take over her company, he wanted this own where he could control everything at once. He wasn’t going to let her control him like a puppet, helplessly dangling at the sidelines like he had been for sixteen years.

It was his time to move, now or never.

Once he had gotten a few ‘friends’ so he had told his mother – though she didn’t believe him one bit (mother knows best). They made their way to Viridian City. There, they were trying to see what territory they could claim. Currently, it was being patrolled by a rookie gang called The Shadow Stars. “What a dumb name.” Giovanni rolled his eyes.

“Marcie, are there any warehouses available for us to takeover?” Their Pokémon were rather weak, they had to catch them on their own with no help from his family. Giovanni knew though within time they’d be strong.

“Not that I’m seeing, looks like we’ll be out here awhile…” Marcie was an old friend of Giovanni’s from high school. She had graduated from the same class as him and choose a Pokémon from Professor Oak’s lab from Pallet Town, where she was born and raised. It just so happened they had gone to high school in Viridian City as she was accepted via-scholarship.

Giovanni’s family wasn’t going to let him accept his Pokémon from a dinky little peasant town like Pallet. Instead, they choose their own Pokémon for him and he got a Charmander, now evolved into a Charmelon, they stood a fair chance on their own. Giovanni also had caught a Meowth which was digging around for scraps in a back alleyway, the poor thing was pathetic and he felt sorry for it so he gave it a chance to test itself with Team Rocket.

“Where are Dalton and Jace?” Hurried footsteps came from behind Giovanni, there was a bit of a scuffle going on a few blocks back.

“Come back here thieves!”

Great. Now they had to run. “Let’s go- “Giovanni grabbed Marcie’s wrist and began to run. “You idiots,” Dalton and Jace finally caught up, laughing as they held bags of what seemed to be food and Pokémon supplies. “What did you do?!”

“Robbed the place.” His eyes went wide. “What? We don’t have the cash for jack shit!” Dalton turned the corner. “In here!” Giovanni and the others soon followed. Dalton had taken the pleasure of sitting on the ground – not looking into his leader’s eyes. “Man, I thought we were goners!”

“I wish I could fire you…” Giovanni had bent down, panting, he had grabbed at his chest instinctively, mindful of his binder, he sat down on the ground and took a breath. “What did you grab?”

“Some potions, antidotes, paralyze heals,” Dalton tossed that bag aside. “But the really good stuff is here – food!” Not just food for them but Pokémon food. “I grabbed as much as I could and just dashed out there – “

“Like a Jolteon who drank ten cups of coffee,” Jace laughed, ruffling his hair. He was a transgender boy who had yet paid for surgery or had any money for hormones. He had a done a terrible job of hiding the fact he was a boy, but Giovanni had lent him one of his binders and hoped it would help.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to return that.” Footsteps revealed a teenage boy wearing a cloak stepping further into view.

“Ha! We stole them fair and square! How do you think you’ll stop us!” Dalton stood up – clutching his fist.

“We could just run away.” Giovanni got up. “Why don’t we act like adults though,” He smiled at the boy with striking red hair and – what was that – a superhero cape? “Mr. Hero?”

“Guys,” Marcie’s eyes widened. “That’s Lance! Lance Draco from the Indigo Elite Four!” They all gaped.

“What?!” The boy – a mere teenager – about their age. About, who knows, sixteen or eighteen or so was an Elite Four Champion?

Lance smiled, rubbing the back of his head. “Wow! A fan!” Their eyes widened as the boy just smiled the biggest, dorkiest grin like they had said the most trivial information about him ever. “But seriously I need you to give those back…”

“Why should we?” Dalton said, nervously gripping the bag, a curious look appeared on Lance’s face.

It was as if they had just asked him a really stupid question. So the boy rubbed his chin and paused for a moment. “Cause… It’s the right thing to do?”

There was a moment of silence. The answer was stupidly simple. But they weren’t good guys! They were a gang! The freaking mafia! There’s reason for them to return – “Alright. Good enough reason.”

Dalton, Marcie and Jace’s eyes widened at their leader. “We’ll return the items we stole.” Lance’s eyes went wide like a child receiving a toy on Christmas. That grin… “In return you give us cover to escape. We are the bad guys; we don’t want to get caught.”

“But if you return them they won’t arrest you, besides I’m the champion, they’ll understand if you’re with me.” Lance waved a hand to the suspecting teens. “Come on.”

True to his word, the shopkeep didn’t call the authorities when they returned the stolen items. “I guess it pays to be a champion,” It was more of a rhetorical statement, but Lance smiled as they walked together (why was he still following them?).

“Yeah. I got this huge beach house in Cerulean,”

“Damn” Jace whistled. One day, when Team Rocket’s big they’ll have digs like that.

“Hey. Wanna come?” The group stopped. “You guys are homeless, right? So you can stay there. It’s actually my parent’s but… They’re in Kalos for the summer visiting family, so you can just hang out there if you want.”

They all stared at him, blank-faced.

“You do realize your aiding criminals, right?” Giovanni continued to give a blank face for a moment. But Lance just grinned, rubbing underneath his nose.

“But you returned the items, so…”

“Beach house sounds nice,”   
“I could take a bath!”   
“The Pokémon can eat – and so can we.”

Lance looked at Giovanni with the brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen. He flushed a bit after staring for too long (damn hormones). “The others are into it, what do you say?”

“Alright, fine.” They all cheered. After all, what kind of leader would he be if he didn’t look out for his grunts?

OuO

It took them two days of travelling to get to Cerulean. But by the time they got there, they were finally met by an extravagant, large beach house that was more like a mansion by the sea if anything. Giovanni would be lying if he said he was astounded by all the little details that had been put into the home.

From the gardens to the furnishings in the home, it was truly a sight to behold. “And this,” Lance lead Giovanni through the large double-doors where they were met by a giant indoor arena. “Is my favorite place in the whole house.”

It wasn’t just an arena; it was a _stadium_. There were bleachers you could sit on to watch people fight and a giant electric billboard was against the middle of the wall to take score of the trainer’s Pokémon stats. It was truly beautiful.

Outside, there was a deck that was a pool, another arena for water-type battles. Giovani raised a brow. “You have water Pokémon?”

Lance smiled. “I have all kinds. They’re currently in Kalos with family, there is one here though that I use for transportation.” Lance whistled and a large gust of wind kicked up – suddenly a giant dragon came their way. Giovanni’s eyes widened. “Hey Dragonite! How ya doin?”

Dragonite landed onto the deck with a roar. Giovanni braced himself for the power that was the beast. But, soon it gently bent down and let its master pet it. Never had he seen something so masterful be so graceful at the same time.

“What was that noise?” Dalton rushed out to see the cause of the commotion and was surprised by the giant dragon’s appearance. “Whoa – is that the Dragonite that helped you beat the Elite Four?”

Lance let the giant nuzzle him like it was a baby. “Yup! Hey – that tickles! You missed me huh?” Dragonite’s nostrils flared. “Alright, I’ll feed you now. I know no one’s here so it’s boring huh.”

Giovanni blinked. “Literally no one’s here?”

Lance rubbed Dragonite’s neck one last time before heading inside. “Nope. Just me. But I’m fine. It’s too much trouble to take care of this place so it’s easier with just me and Dragonite coming and going.” Simple logic, but easy to understand.

When Lance returned he had a giant bowl the size of two Meowths and handed them to Dragonite. “It’s so calm.” Dalton was amazed at how well-behaved the gentle giant was. “Whoa!” After it was finished devouring its meal it flapped its wings and took off “Where’s it going?”

Lance shrugged. “Wherever it wants. We own a lot of land out here so I just let Dragonite roam around, so long as it doesn’t get into trouble.”

Lance was so carefree and trusting of his Pokémon. Giovanni knew that from his experience with Pokémon that it wasn’t so easy to gain trust and also with humans it was even harder. He rarely had any friends as a child, and only got to experience the joys of Pokémon one-on-one during his teenage years. His mother wouldn’t allow him to slack off when he could’ve been learning things about his ‘future company’.

But with Lance… He just had a special way with Pokémon that was so different from what he had seen before. Giovanni couldn’t help but think maybe he was something special… Something… Different…

They were soon lead into the dining room and all the humans got to eat a meal, prepared by Lance. It was incredible, almost like eating a restaurant. He was clearly experienced at taking care of himself.

“Dude! This is amazing. It’s like, restaurant food.” Dalton continued scarfing down his pasta Giovanni had awkwardly sat himself across from the champion. “Where’d you learn to cook like this?”

“My mom, she’s amazing. Before we got lots of money she used to cook all the time,” He continued to slurp up his scampi. “Glad you like it.”

“Man! If only I could eat like _this_ every day! Jace mused now too full eat anymore.

Marcie giggled taking a breadstick and dipping it into her pasta sauce. “If I could take a _shower_ every day.”

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Giovanni huffed. “We have to claim our territory in Kanto, we still have a mission, remember.” They all groaned. “I knew this would make you spoiled.”

“But boss,” Jace nudged his shoulder. “You’re used to this stuff.”

Lance looked over at the gangster with a strange look. He thought Giovanni was just some runaway punk…? “Huh?”

“It’s true I am,” He sighed. “My family’s wealthy, my mother originally wanted me to take over the company she had created, but I did want any of that. I don’t want to become a puppet for her like I have been for the past sixteen years.” Silence befell them as the Rocket leader picked at his food. Awkward… “But – now I’m finally free. And I can make my own future.”

“By becoming a _criminal_ ,” Lance mumbled.

“By becoming something _great_.” Giovanni’s stare darkened. “Besides, your _harboring_ criminals.”

“You’re not a criminal _yet_. You’re just on the path to being one.” This was wiser than their previous conversations. “Think clearly about what you become. Because once you made a decision it’s all over,”

“Oh, I have. I thought long and hard.” Giovanni’s glare made the whole room feel tense. A strange aura emitted from the teen that Lance swore he felt before… But he didn’t know where.   

“Well, it’s your choice then.” He shrugged and stood up. “I’m beat. I’m heading to bed. You guys help yourselves.”

With a wave of his hand and a yawn, no one else saw Lance for the rest of the night.

OoO

“Come in,” Giovanni wasn’t sure if he should have said that, but when a red-hair champion came into his bedroom (Lance’s guest room, his temporarily) dressed in a plush black robe, he flushed instantly. “W-what are you doing here?” He had made use of those robes, in fact he was wearing one right now. But he had yet to hide all of his womanly frills…

“Just wanting to make sure if you were okay,” Lance didn’t notice the binder that was sprawled out on the floor yet. Instead, he raised a brow at Giovanni. “You okay?”

“I-I’m fine.” He looked down at his Meowth who was sleeping in his lap currently. Nudged it, and it meowed and fell on the floor. “O-oops. I didn’t mean to do that…”

“Hey little guy,” Lance bent down and held out a hand for Meowth to smell. Charmelon was occupying itself by the balcony which doors were closed by the curtains were open. It was curled up and the moonlight was shining on the fire-lizard. “Wow you’re really friendly, huh?”

Meowth graciously accepted the pets that his owner was now neglecting him from.

Giovanni’s anxiety rose higher as Lance stayed. He didn’t want him to find out about his binder but – he couldn’t say anything to him now. So… he was completely stuck. _Shit_. When Lance stood up from petting the Meowth, he noticed something at the corner of his eye.

“Huh?” Shit! “What’s that?” Both of their eyes glanced over to the skin-colored object that laid open on the ground.

Giovanni flushed a crimson scarlet. He stood up and hurried to get it out of Lance’s sight. “It-its.” He was nearly hyperventilating now. He didn’t know how to explain that he was a fucking fag and that he was gay and that he liked guys. Not that he liked Lance. Or did he? Oh shit.

“Giovanni calm down, it’s okay. I know what it is,”

Giovanni felt like he was about to collapse. It was… okay? Lance was okay with it? “You know this is a binder, right?”

“Yes…?”

“And that – that means I’m trans. Right?”

“Yes…? So?”

Giovanni was floored. He didn’t know if he should break down and cry or jump for joy. He didn’t know if he wanted to punch Lance or kiss him – so many hormones. Not enough time!

“And. You’re okay with that?” Giovanni’s face was as red as a Pokeball when Lance laughed.

“Yes!”

Giovanni leaned in and punched Lance right in the gut. He toppled over. “I can’t believe you.” He sat on the floor, giving the gangster strange looks. “Why are you so simpleminded? How can you be so carefree? I’ve lived my who live with people giving me shit, with people thinking that I should be the best. They’ve had nothing but high expectations of me and in the end I failed them.” He was ranting, but it was worth it.

Lance was a moron.

Lance smiled regardless. “Not everyone’s the same.” Meowth still was being petted. “And your Pokémon certainly don’t seem to mind.”

Giovanni started at that. But in the end he came up with nothing. It was true. Whenever life got him down Pokémon were always there for him, he would secretly run off and try to be with Pokémon whenever he could for comfort. That little girl that always was seen as a delinquent in his mother’s eyes was truly just someone who was trying to get away from all the chaos and hate.

….. He was a man. And his Pokémon accepted it. He always thought they were simpleminded fools, and there could never be a human just like that. But here he was presented with Lance and he was denying himself of his acceptance. How stupid could he be?

Meowth crawled over and rubbed itself up against Giovanni’s leg. He smiled and bent down to pet it. “I’m pretty foolish, aren’t I?” Meowth purred and jumped up on the bed. “I apologize.”

Lance blinked. “I don’t judge a person off of things like that,” Lance stood up looking towards the balcony. “But you’re still heading in the wrong path – I still say think long and hard about what you want to do.” This again. What was he his father?

…. They stood in silence for a moment, until Lance got an idea. “Go out with me tomorrow.”

As in… “A date?”

“Yeah!” Lance twirled for a second. “A date! It’ll be fun. There are great restaurants around here. Why not?” But – was he? Though at this point did it really matter? “My treat.” And just like that, a wave of his hand he was gone. “See ya tomorrow.”

“Wait- “The door slammed shut, only earning a perplexed look from Meowth. “Stubborn fool…” Giovanni sighed, flopping backwards onto the bed and feeling his chest. An instant flush overcame him as he felt his breasts. What was he trying to pull?

0o0

“The boss is going out on a date – with the champion?” Dalton asked, shocked. They were all hanging out by the beach the next morning. They had no idea they would be left alone for the whole day. “What are we supposed to do?”

Marcie shrugged. “Hang out here I guess. We’ve got a whole beach house to explore.” She eyed her Pokémon. Her team only consisted of three at the moment. A Wartortle named Hex, a Pidgeotto named Justice, and a Pikachu named Bolt. “The Pokémon are enjoying it. I’m in no rush to leave.”

Jace had two Pokémon. A Venomoth named Ivy and a Kadabra named Jarvis. He caught them when they were fairly young, they were currently recognized as the strongest, being the only ones that could pull off psychic attacks. As for Dalton, he had a Haunter. It liked to play tricks on people henceforth why he stole those items so easily. Its name was Gaster and it was his only Pokémon for now.

 _‘Physic can’t affect Ghost,’_ Gaster sneered at Jarvis, getting closer in his face. _‘This battle is useless. You might as well give up now.’_

 _‘I’m known as the strongest in Team Rocket! How dare you mock me, ghost!’_ The bipedal creature readied its spoons for an attack. _‘This is why I hate Ghost Types…’_ It snarled. Meanwhile Hex noticed the commotion from where it was swimming and came over to investigate.

 _‘What’s going on?’_ Hex came running over. _‘Don’t tell me you two are fighting again.’_

Gaster laughed. _‘We’re just having a slight disagreement.’_ He hooted out another laugh, making the Kadabra blush.

 _‘You bastard!’_ Just then, Jarvis fired a Pysbeam at Gaster who allowed himself to get hit. _‘N-Nothing at all!’_

Bolt and Justice were alerted to the scene along with the humans. “What’s going on?” Hex though was getting tired of Gaster’s high-and-mighty attitude. It reminded him of Meowth’s. One who he didn’t wish to deal with right now.

 _‘But water can affect you – ‘_ So he fired a water gun straight at the creature, soaking him. _‘Ha!’_ The humans gaped – were they playing or fighting? Or play-fighting? Hex wagged his tail and stuck out his tongue. ‘ _Come and catch me if you can, ghost_!’

Gaster literally flushed. HE does the taunting! Not be taunted! He was the master of all things trickery! He was the prankster Pokémon! The humans laughed. “Looks like you better up your game, Gaster.”

The nerve of that Wartortle! He began chasing him until he was met face-to-face with the ocean.

_‘Come on! What are you a Torchic?’_

Gaster could just simply float over the water. But the thought of getting wet again bothered him too much. Still… This fight they were having – was his game. He wasn’t going to allow it. So he shrugged. ‘ _No thanks. I pass.’_

He wasn’t going to be a fool in front of everyone.

Until Hex fired another water gun in his face, and now it was on. _‘Shadow Ball!’_ Hex was struggling in the water. Good. Let him drown. He didn’t care. But as Marcie went in to go help Hex he sighed. Dalton looked at Gaster with a stink-eye. _‘What did I do? He started it!’_

Though all came out were animalistic growls. Of course they couldn’t hear him. Why couldn’t Hex swim? He was a Wartortle for Arceus’ sake!

“Hex – your leg!” Oh. That’s why. He’d gotten his leg… “Let’s get you inside.” Oops. Marcie carried Hex on her back to the shore, only earning a glare from the turtle as they passed to get to the house. He messed up…

0o0

“I worry about them,” Giovanni looked back as they drove further and further away from the beachside mansion. “Their incompetence really gets to me…”

“Come on, they’ll be fine. There are healing machines throughout the entire mansion if the Pokémon get into any fights, they could order something if they got hungry.” The zoom of the car was smooth and Lance smiled as he focused on the road, not turning back. “Relax, we’ll have fun.”

Giovanni sighed as he sat back, adjusting in his seat. He wondered what Lance’s version of ‘fun’ was…

He shouldn’t have asked.

When they arrived, it was a restaurant themed around Pokémon battles. Of course you can just simply sit and watch, since Lance had reserved a head of – wait what? He RESERVED knowing that this would work out? The nerve of him! Giovanni fumed as the waiters and waitress lead them through the restaurant, which was a pretty classy one too.

“Your order sir, with full view of our finest arena,” Giovanni looked over at the trainers that were battling he didn’t seem to notice anything special about them… But Lance said to pay attention – he might see something good today.

“Raichu – use quick attack!” The blonde haired man sent out a hefty electric mouse. It looked strong, and it was fast as it went for the Pokémon ahead of it.

“Bunnelby dodge it by using dig!” The other one was a redhead with glasses. Lance told Giovanni to take note that Bunnelby was a Kalos-native Pokémon. One that, Giovanni had never seen before. “Now – mud shot!”

“Iron Tail it away!” But the raven’s technique back fired as the sticky mud penetrated the mouse too quickly. “Raichu are you OK?”

“Rai rai!” The Pokémon was on one knee but quickly got up. “Raichu!”

“Not bad Ash!” Wait… He was praising his opponent? “But I’m afraid we’re going to win this one! Now Bunnelby use Double Slap!”

It was using its ears as hands! That was incredible! Raichu had nowhere to run! Ash was completely stunned! … But then – out of nowhere he began smiling!

“We can use this to our strategy – Raichu use Eletroball!” Just as Bunnelby had caught Raichu in its ears, Raichu fired a powerful shock to it using an attack he’d never seen before.

Bunnelby was still standing…? “What motivated Pokémon…” Giovanni’s eyes were glued to the battle, Lance continued to eat.

“They’re motivated because of their trainers.” Giovanni blinked, trainers? “The bonds they share between Pokémon and trainer is important, you know.” The redhead winked, causing Giovanni to flush going back to his food.

“Mud shot – Bunnelby lets end this!”

“Thunder- lets go Raichu!”

And… Three. Two. One… “Bunnelby is unable to battle, the winner is Ash from Pallet Town!” Pallet Town… Pallet Town…

The two trainers stepped forward and shook hands, then Ash tackled the redhead and began to noogey him. “They seem like good friends.” The dragon master had seen a lot of battles, but there was something about that one…

“Where are you going?” Giovanni asked still sipping on his soup.

“To go talk to them. Come on!” He grabbed Giovanni’s wrist – dragging him to the field.

“Now where were they…” Lance looked around for the two trainers and soon noticed them talking by the bleachers. “There they are! Come on!” Giovanni really didn’t want to talk to him. But he supposed it was the Champion’s job to give pep talk to all types of trainers no matter what class they were.

“Hey, you two, nice battle.” Lance walked over with a wave. The two men’s eyes went wide.

“Oh! You’re Lance the Elite Four Champion!” Ash immediately stood, looking more eager than before. “If I had my other Pokémon on me I’d so challenge you!”

Giovanni shot the other man a glance, who simply shrugged. This kid Ash, he was cocky. But Lance looked motivated too, so it didn’t seem to matter.

“That sounds fun, but I don’t have my main team with me right now. Just Dragonite.” He rubbed the back of his head, so modest.

“The one on TV?”   
“Yup!”  
“Haa I’d so want to meet that Pokémon, seems really strong!”

Lance bent down to pet Raichu when Ash moved his hands out “Your Raichu is really well raised, how long have you had it?” Raichu was enjoying a cheek massages – right underneath their electric pouches the Raichu evolutionary line enjoyed being messaged. Built up electricity can be a problem in these Pokémon, so Lance was doing Raichu a favor.

“That’s incredible, whenever I pet Raichu like that it shocks me…” He laughs about it.

“They actually like massages like this, give it a try.” Ash bent down and noticed Raichu went limp and became sleepy.

Giovanni blinked. His whole team was Dragon Types. So how does he know so much about Pokémon? “You know a lot about various types of Pokémon. Whys that if they call you the Dragon Master?”

Lance stood up and rubbed his head. “Well, I grew up with them. My parents ran a daycare and we got a long with all sorts of Pokémon when I was a kid. So I learned about their strengths and weaknesses and how to care for them, medically and whatnot as well. I just had a special connection with Dragon Types. People always praised me on that since they’re so rare…”

“That’s amazing…”

Giovanni eventually stopped listening. He just saw how amazing Lance was with Pokémon. He didn’t understand Human-Pokémon relationships at all. Probably because he was stripped so early from them and didn’t get to interact much with his partner growing up. It was a harsh environment he grew up in, but that was the reality of his world.

“Come on, Gio. Let’s go.” Lance tugged at his shoulder.

Giovanni’s head perked up. “W-What did you just call me?”

Lance chuckled. “Can’t I give you a nickname?” This Lance… He was… _Indescribable_.

O0O

They spent the whole day out together. Giovanni constantly insisting they go back to check up on the others. But Lance said he needed to get out and get some fresh air. Which was true. So he enjoyed their time together in Cerulean. _He wasn’t going to stay long anyway._ By the time they went back to the beach house, they saw all of the members awkwardly sitting, purposefully avoiding each other.

“Whoa. Where’s the fire?” Lance just _had_ to ask.

“Gaster. That’s who.” She huffed and turned a heel, exiting the room. The two men blinked for a second, confused. Gaster was in the corner, looking at the ocean through the window. Dalton was embarrassed, his head in his hands.

“He won’t go back in his Pokeball.”

Giovanni sighed. “Not my problem if your Pokémon refuses to listen to you,” He turned to leave the room when Gaster glared. “What?” He eyed the ghost. “Even Meowth, whose weaker than you by twenty levels obeys his commands.”

“Come on – Giovanni – “Lance put a hand on his shoulder but Giovanni smacked him away.

“I will not accept any refusal or incompetence in Team Rocket. Even from Pokémon themselves. Do you understand me?” Gaster glared, it was sinister. It was one-on-one with the bossman. Dalton stood up, in between them.

“Come on Gas, knock it off already. You know you shouldn’t pick fights with – “Gaster hissed making Dalton flinch. Giovanni smirked. He was showing no respect for his trainer at all. Instead, he left the room. “Gaster! Ah dammit!” Dalton ran after him.

“Damn you, Giovanni…” Lance shook his head. “Yelling at it isn’t going to make it listen.”

“I didn’t yell,” Giovanni turned to leave the room. “I simply stated my orders.” Even Dalton could understand what those meant.

Jarvis was busy watching Hex rest. The psychic type was not in a good mood. Because of what happened before, it had left him sour. They’d patched him up but mostly his pride was damaged. How dare Gaster mock him like that…

Soon, he heard a growl coming from the hallway.

Gaster.

He groaned. “What do you want, ghost?” Jarvis turned, to see the ghost seriously peeved. But it didn’t say a thing as it rested its hands up against the glass. Intently watching the Wartortle, Hex, rest. “…..” Jarvis didn’t respond to that. Until, Dalton came around the corner yelling for Gaster.

“Gaster wait – “

Dalton was about to recall Gaster when Lance put a hand on his shoulder. “Look.” Dalton looked at what they were doing. Sitting side by side, harmless. Watching Hex. “I think Gaster has already said his apology to Jarvis.”

Dalton let it sink in for a moment. He didn’t really think of Gaster’s emotions much, he just thought of him as something that would get him a promotion in Team Rocket. That was all. A tool. But – when he came to this place and talked to Lance – things changed. Maybe… Pokémon really were smarter than he thought.

He sighed, tucking the Pokeball back in his pocket. “Do you think… They think like you and I?” He turned his head, not looking at anyone. Dalton didn’t think much on the subject of emotions. Like Giovanni, he grew up in a harsh environment and used Team Rocket to escape that reality.

“Of course they do.” Lance and him slowly were making their way out of the infirmary. “You’d be surprised what Pokémon are capable of.”

What the _world_ is capable of.


End file.
